Apoptosis in Untreated and Hormone-Treated Prostate Cancer of Various Histological Types.

A total of 102 (66 untreated and 36 hormone-treated) prostate cancers were examined histologically in order to determine their histological grade and the percentage of apoptotic tumor cells. The less differentiated the tumors were, the higher the spontaneous apoptotic activity was. Hormone therapy increased the apoptotic index in the prostate cancers. The increase was of greater significance in grade I than in grade II and grade III tumors. The therapeutic consequences of these findings and the possibility of different oncogene-expressions in various histological types of prostate cancer are discussed.